amputation – The Incredible Miss Mia

Amputation & Beyond!

The last week has been rather eventful, keeping me from posting or reaching out into the forums. My grandmother passed the day we dropped off Mia for surgery, then we had meetings for my oldest to start school (yay homeschool!), & Mia’s care has been top priority since.

April 23rd was amputation day. She went in early that morning, surgery went about as well as it could have. Zero complications. It was a two night stay, then she was cleared to come home, given antibiotics & tramadol for pain. It was a rocky first night. At first we were concerned her pressure bandage (due to come off the 27th) was coming off, after a quick call I was told it was normal to have some slippage. By 10pm that evening it was down around her tail & by 2am it was all the way off. Luckily, we had the forethought to buy a cone that afternoon “just in case.” I called the next day to make sure it was okay & was reassured that as long as there was no excessive bleeding or swelling she’d be fine. That 24 hours was worse than bringing a newborn baby home! I was so scared, but remained strong for her. We went for the doctor to look at how the healing was coming along two days later & he said it was healing perfectly. Those words put us all at ease.

I think out of everyone in my home, my mother who was staying with us to help, was the most anxious. The first few days Mia’s sutures were weeping a lot, the cone she was wearing irritated it as she tried (& failed) to reach & clean it up on her own. Today, one week post-amp, has been the best day for her. The weeping has been absolutely minimal–if any at all, she has been finally able to sleep for longer stretches & actually relax. Tomorrow I will be washing her blankets & we will start some free time around the house. Because of the weeping & our children being a bit rambunctious for her right now, we’ve had her in the kitchen with access outside to our large yard.

She’s my hero. Walking was a bit of an issue at first with a few slips, but she’s a pro now. I couldn’t be prouder to see her happily hop around in the yard. I knew from seeing other blogs, videos, & pictures that it wouldn’t be an issue, but to see her fully adjusted only a week later is incredible. The learning curve was so slight. Viewing the strength in her in person is far different than seeing it online.

I think the only issue we’re really needing to help her with is some nerve sensitivity around where the leg was. She has a few bad moments where it will twitch wildly & the only help has been a light blanket draped over her. I think I can sew a light weight jersey knit cover for her, but will be looking through the forums the next week to see about finding either a way to make one or another solution. I know many have put t-shirts for front amps, but hers being a hind leg has me guessing. I’m a seamstress, so I’m sure I can come up with something, but it’s a challenge for sure.

Looking at her you’d never know.

The hardest part of all these decisions is looking at her now. Mia is the happiest we’ve seen her in a year, now that the tumor is gone from her leg & she’s healed. You’d never be able to tell from how she’s acting that she’s got cancer still lurking in that same spot. When the tests came back the first time, we were told to expect the tumor to come back. Expect it to be worse. Expect surgery multiple times unless we amputate. That the tests could come back inconclusive or cancer free from her torso & it could still be there. There’s always a chance. Unless it’s blatant “CANCER HERE!” we’re looking at amputation. Well the tests came back inconclusive this time. She has a “normal amount of tumor-like activity for a dog her age, but they aren’t MCTs.” My husband & I were told we should go have her tested again for tests that are way out of our price range just to “be sure.” Which kind of ticks me off. We just spent our entire savings on tests that weren’t good enough? So here we are, looking at amputate anyways. Because if we don’t it WILL spread if it hasn’t already. Because if we don’t soon, who knows. I don’t want to risk waiting another month, or two, & having that tumor come back twice as big–which we were told was entirely likely. That this was a sleeping giant we prod with a stick by removing what they could. So instead of doing nothing, instead of waiting, we’re doing what we were first told was the right decision. We’re still going to amputate. Fact remains that she still has cancer in that leg. It could spread, & we don’t know how fast. We will do what we can if it shows up anywhere else.. but this is something we CAN do. As much as it makes me sick thinking about it, this is the right decision. She’s so happy, so full of life, so sweet.. I can’t risk losing her because we waited too long. I feel silly, but everyone we’ve talked to that knows her & has animals themselves said they’d do the same if it were their animal. So. Amputation it is. Probably by the end of the month, we were scheduled to have her original stitches taken out Tuesday, but with this final decision they’re going to call us back to possibly change her appointment just to get it all done at once. I love her, & when I signed those adoption papers I meant I would do everything I could for her. This just happens to be a part of it.

Never a good time..

I have found myself saying this multiple times over the last two years. Cancer will never have good timing. It usually decides the best time is when you’re already having a bad time. And yet, here we are. I just lost my dad a year ago to head & neck cancer, & now a Mast Cell Tumor invading Mia’s body left us a present after being removed.

Mia is my best friend, a boxer/lab mix with the biggest heart of anyone–human or animal–I’ve ever known. After the loss of our first child by miscarriage during my husband’s deployment, we found Mia. She was abandoned twice on our property, before we’d moved in. First by a woman who deployed & just left poor Mia there, then second by a man who was arrested & left his dog & Mia to fend for themselves with no one to look after them. We didn’t know all this when we moved in. All we knew was this dog, who was skin & bones, continued to come to our door–this dog came to us to be loved, fed, & be provided for. And that’s just what we did. We did what we could to find the owner, she was still deployed & wanted nothing to do with Mia. She admitted to being a bad pet owner & signed her over via a rescue. A month later, someone came to pick up the other dog that belonged to the previous renter (the man who’d been arrested). Mia was in our yard–as she had free reign of the doggie door, & I suspect the person had been instructed by the man to take BOTH dogs. Mia was literally stolen from us, & then dumped at the pound. I was sick over our separation. I didn’t know what to do, I panicked & called every local pound, rescue, & found her at the county doggie jail. I was there the very minute they opened & made sure she would always be safe. We moved the next month.

I already had a dog, a dachshund, who was living with my parents until we could get Mia settled with us. They instantly felt a connection & have been cuddle buddies ever since. Since 2010, we’ve been one big happy family & they’ve gained two two-legged sisters that adore them.

After noticing Mia had a growth on her leg & one on her chest. We took her into the vet & was told that because she’d never been fixed (every time we scheduled she’d go into heat, I think she planned it 😉 ) it was a good idea to save up the money & get all three surgeries (two growth removals & a spay) done at the same time. So we saved, scraped every penny, & on March 6th, 2015 Mia had her surgery. She’s since healed well & has been mostly annoyed with her cone, which she broke this morning–we will be buying a new one today XD Mia was ridiculously proud that she was “almost free” of the cone & was ready to be done with it. We’d been instructed to keep it on for the full 6 week recovery time & that’s still the plan.

Yesterday, I received the phone call no one wants to get. Mia’s breast lump was fine, came back clean–but her leg came back as a Mast Cell Tumor (commonly MCT). And even worse, because of the size & placement they were unable & will be unable to remove all of it. The Dr gave us essentially two options. Radiation or amputation. I spent the better part of yesterday sick to my stomach. My husband is beside himself. We feel like we’ve failed her & now want to do anything within our power to turn this around. Basically, this thing will continue to regrow & spread if we don’t do something -now-. After hours and hours of searching, we realized quickly that radiation is not going to happen. It’s too far away, too much risk, & WAY out of our financial reach. So here we are, amputation. My 7 year old perfect baby girl will be undergoing all the necessary tests to assess if it has spread, & if she gets the green light, she will lose a back leg.

I’ve taken a lot of comfort knowing that she will not miss it much. Dogs aren’t as attached to limbs as we are & she won’t mourn it so long as we don’t. It is my hope that this is it & she lives a long, healthy, happy life. I’m reading blogs here (Rio, Maggie, & Roxy’s stories specifically), and they all provide comfort. Knowing we aren’t alone, this happens, & it isn’t my fault. I’m not sure how we’re going to afford this, I’m not sure what the future holds for her, but this is the path we feel is right.

She has been through everything with me. Rough pregnancies, raising two girls, my joint pain, my husband’s PTSD, losing my dad (she was his “nurse” when he visited & never left his side)… she never let me down & I will never give up on her. She has so many years left, I refuse to let cancer destroy her. We are researching, finding as many homeopathic cancer rememdies for dogs as possible to bring up to the Dr, & looking forward to her healing. <3

Mia a month after she came into our lives (& my husband)

Mia wondering why I was laughing so hard. This is what she did today to her cone XP